How To Stay Positive About Art - 5 Tips

Sometimes we can be pretty harsh on ourselves with where our art's going or how we feel things are going regarding our art and in this video I'm going to be talking about some motivational tips and advice to kind of help pick you up if you are feeling a little bit low about where you are with your art. Welcome! My name is Jessica and if this is your first time here and you want to learn about art tips and other arty things this channel is just for you. Subscribe so you don't miss out. Tip number one would be to rely on yourself for what's good or not. Don't rely on the opinions of other people about your art or other artists work to decide whether what you make is good or not or how many likes or shares it gets on social media. When we put our self-worth into the hands of others we subject it to harsh things that might not even be true and in this day and age where social media is such a large part of our lives that can really hit you hard. You can't get happiness from other people. It has to come from within you for you to feel really good. Yes people will really like your artwork but there are also people who won't like your artwork for whatever reasons that may be. Ask yourself this, how can you have room to think how you really feel about your work if what you're clouding your mind with is things from other people and not yourself? Depending on yourself for what you think is good or not good is to start to staying positive about yourself and your work. My next tip is to accept your mistakes. We're all human and nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes so why should we expect ourselves to be perfect? I think that when we can accept ourselves and our mistakes it gives us the opportunity to grow and be a happier mindset. I think a number of artists get into a perfectionist mindset and just tear themselves up over their mistakes and you shouldn't do that to yourself. I used to do that to myself when I was a little girl. I would crumple up my drawings and paintings and throw them in the trash because I made a mistake or a few mistakes. I was so angry at myself for not being able to get things the way that I thought that they should be. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that I was so unhappy with myself and I was throwing away bits and pieces of my journey. My journey as an artist and the process that it truly is to improving the skill over time. I have just come to realize over the years that not everything I do is going to be perfect and if I am constantly trying to aim for perfection I will never get there and I will just be trashing most of the work I make. I make mistakes all the time with my work. I just adapt with it and accommodate it. Changing things around just a little bit. And that is what I feel is really important with being an artist is recognizing mistakes are okay and learning to adapt with them. It's also important though that we accept the fact that we all learn at our own paces. There are people who learn things faster or slower than you or me and that's okay. I think that when we embark on learning something it is important to be accepting of yourself and the pace you learn at and to not get yourself down. Now I'm going to get into a few tips to help you stay positive. Tip number three is to reflect back on your older work. Like I mentioned when I threw away a number of my old drawings and wish I hadn't, it is good to keep most of your drawings so that you can look back and observe where you were and where you are now. This can give you a boost of confidence to see your progress you've made over time and it's always fun to go through artwork you may not even remember doing off the top of your head. Tip number four is to start a positive self-critique routine. Each time you finish a drawing or painting, come up with a list of positive things about it and a list of things you think you could improve on, but try to keep the improvements list smaller. You could write this list on a piece of paper, your notes on your phone, or just create a mental note. The key thing is with this, it needs to be how you feel. This is an exercise for your mind and over time it might help you get into thinking more positively about your work. And tip number five is to take time for yourself. I think that this tip is so super important with being an artist. Set aside time for you to just relax. We are creative people needing to constantly come up with ideas about so many things, especially in today's social media times where if you're trying to run a business as an artist, you're having to self-market yourself and as well as trying to come up with ideas for your next projects, among other things. And it is way too easy to get caught up in being constantly under pressure and working ourselves to the bone through weekends and skipping meals. Maintaining a positive mind is much easier to do when we give ourselves time to relax and not worry about all the things we need to do. So set some time aside to do something fun and relaxing. However long you feel like you need, stay off your social media and don't think about the work you need to do during that time. If you would like to learn about more free art tips, you should check out these videos. Also follow me on Instagram and Facebook to stay up to date on my latest artwork. Thank you so much for watching. I will see you next time.